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 Dan Tuscon (from Natural England) described his fascination with the ‘hinterland’ of the more widely known escarpment or southern edge of the North Downs. His book - “The Kent Downs” - and his talk to the Society seeks to raise awareness of the geography, economic and social history of this “unsung landscape”.
The talk ranged far and wide thanks to this expert and entertaining guide. The key influence is the chalk that gives this landscape its flora, fauna and physical form. His examples included the nailbournes (or winter-bournes) that emerge in wet weather as streams but otherwise can disappear entirely from their channels - the River Lyn is locally reputed example in our dry valley that occasionally hints at its past by collecting pools near Bumpit; but Dan referenced the Ospringe nailbourne. Deneholes are another feature, like the well documented one in Dadmans Shaw (with its bats). Other chalkland features include the scattered dew ponds (stock watering places). Dan traced the ebb and flow of cultivation and the abundance of woodland to the steep landscape in places. He also pointed to population pressures like those emerging in the Mediaeval period until the Black Death significantly reduced the local population. The romantic images of the Downs came much later in Victorian times through art, poetry and other writing. It was also in the 1800’s that the modern patterns of fields, tracks, and woodland gradually became established as more pressure was put on the land.
Dan led us expertly through a fascinating canter over the centuries to explain the patterns of settlement and agricultural habits and how nature adapted at each stage. There is evidence that far from being solidly wooded, the Downs included a patchwork of trails and grazing lands for wild animals back to the post ice-age period when the Oryx (extinct) and European Bison roamed freely. In later Neolithic times (c.500BC) drovers tracks and small settlements emerged and there was some deliberate clearance taking place. As we arrived in the Mediaeval period, settlements formed in more fertile valleys and more drove-ways were established. These drove-ways tending to point from the north-east to south-west of this part of Kent. All was apparently well until the Black Death (c.1400AD) when several settlements declined and disappeared. We learned that heathland used to be more of a feature but all we have left is around Stelling Minnis.
Dan expressed some optimism for the future of the Kent Downs, in spite of any modern pressures on land use. He pointed to the positive contribution of the Stewardship schemes, the work of charities and of landowners to restore some habitats. So, the Kent Downs still holds onto some scarce and threatened species of insect and flowers through the combination of funding and local goodwill.
Report by Nigel Heriz-Smith
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